30 days in the life
by Penny Talisman
Summary: Title in work. 30-ish one shots about Arcee and Knock Out. Sequel to 5 Stages of Acceptance
1. Defiant

**Defiant**

"Do I have to?" An unmistakeable whine left his vocals.

Arcee rolled her optics "Scared you'll scratch your paint?"

Knock Out crossed his arms, angling one hand so he could point a finger at the training room "Of course! They hate me. Most of them probably want to peel my paint off."

Placing one hand on her hip, Arcee gestured violently with the other "I will be the one sparring with you Knock Out. We need to know exactly how the other fights, that way we can play to each others strengths in battle"

"Strengths?" Knock Out mused, uncrossing an arm to tap a finger on his chin "I'm pretty sure I've already shown you in 'our' past battles"

"All I've ever seen from you is that slagging energon prod and your saws." Arcee vented hot air at him in annoyance.

"Exactly" Knock Out smirked.


	2. Powder

"Being a medic is usually pretty simple. Ice? Defrost them. Clogged vents? Suction. Cracked Armour? Weld it. Overheating? Coolant. There is a difficult side to the job just like everything else, it just happens to come around less often. Melted Circuits? Burnt-out Processors? Surgery. The absolute worst thing to happen? Get water in your injury. Most liquids, like oil for example, does not have any effect on our circuitry, but water... Uh! I hate that substance. Despite the fact it can only get into our systems when we are already injured, it is the most damaging substance I have ever seen"

"Stop ranting and dry me out!" Arcee snarled, she was lying on her front so Knock Out could reach the damage on her back.

Arcee ignored his huff of agitation, she was the one running to risk of shorting a circuit through water damage.

"Lie still" Knock Out muttered as he moved to the other end of the room to collect a jar of gaudy, lime green powder.

Though there was other colour selections for this particular powder, Knock Out thought that this shade of green would be the easiest to see on Arcee's armour, thus making his job easier. After ensuring the tub in his hand contained enough powder for the endeavour ahead.

Carefully setting down the powder next to Arcee, Knock out examined the wound that sat on her lower back. There was nothing vital in danger of shorting just a few circuits, nor was there any shrapnel embedded there. Knock Out grabbed the obnoxious coloured powder and applied a liberal amount, more than was actually needed, to soak up the water.

"Don't move" Knock Out warned "If you move and get this under your armour it'll feel like you have sand in your joints"

Arcee grimaced "Noted"

"I have to leave for a few minutes and then I'll use suction to get it out" He explained "Then all I have to do is weld you up and you're free to go"


	3. Comfort

It was late, it was in fact so late that even Optimus Prime had succumbed to his exhaustion and went to his massive berth. So why, the petite blue femme asked herself, is she still wandering the halls? Simple really, she had a hunch, she felt that someone needed her. However, so far she had only heard snores echoing out of the occupied berth-rooms. The closest she got to helping someone was waking Ratchet, so he could use his berth instead of his desk as recharge area.

Arcee continued to wander throughout the halls, she was almost ready to give up and go to her own berth when she heard it.

Sobbing.

She instantly knew who recharged in that particular berth-room but she had no idea why _that_ mech would be crying. Nevertheless, Arcee raised her hand and rapped on his door. A muffled thunk, and a muffled yelp of pain reached her audios. She only had to wait a few more seconds before the door slid open.

He looked shocked "Can I help you?"

Arcee snorted "I was going to ask you that"

He blinked at her clearly not understanding, all traces of energon tears had been wiped from his face. If she hadn't heard him she never would have known he had been crying.

"I heard you crying" Arcee explained, instantly she saw walls being thrown up, she raised her hands placatingly "Easy, I just wanted to see if you were okay"

"Why?" His face was crumpled in a deep frown

""You're my partner now" Arcee shrugged and smiled teasingly at him "It's sort of my job to care now"

The blank look on his face made Arcee wonder if he had ever been shown any kindness.

"I'll go if you want me to, Knock Out" Arcee looked him in the optics "But if you ever want to talk about these things upsetting you find me"


	4. (In)Decent

A rose red femme was leaving the room when Arcee came to collect him for a meeting. The satisfied smirk on his face told her everything she didn't need or want to know about what they had been doing.

Eying the retreating form of the femme disdainfully before turning to Knock Out "Prostitute?"

He smirked "Possibly"

Arcee bared her denta "Pray she didn't have anything"


End file.
